Telescope mounting



June 28, 1955 Filed Aug. 27, 1954 H. W. STOCK TELESCOPE MOUNTING 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor":

W. Stock,

His Attorn e55.

June 28, 1955 H. w. STOCK TELESCOPE MOUNTING Filed Aug. 27, 1954 2Sheets-Sheet 2 His Attorney United States Patent() TELESCOPE MOUNTINGHenry W. Stock, Albany, N. Y.

Application August 27, 1954, Serial No. 452,539

10 Claims. (Cl. 33-61) My invention relates to telescope mountings andparticularly to a mounting which is of simple construction and Withineasy financial reach of the junior and adult amateur astronomers.

Professional mountings are made of metal and have many delicatelybalanced parts which makes them extremely expensive. Therefore, theprincipal object of my invention is to provide a design for anequatorial mounting of a telescope which can be made and assembled byalmost anyone at very little cost but which will well serve to locatecelestial objects whose declination and right ascension are known.

I accomplish this object by the means described below and illustrated inthe accompanying drawings in which- Fig. l is a perspective view of themounting;

. Fig. 2 is a top plan viewj'thereof with portions broken away;

Fig. 3 is a section of Fig. 2 in the plane 33;

Fig. 4 is a section of Fig. 2 in theplane 44;

Fig; 5 is an enlarged view of the right ascension setting circle at theend of the polar axis and showing a portion of the declination axis; themeans for clamping the index hand in set position being omitted;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 showing the declina tion settingcircle and portions of the polar axis and telescope tube; the clampingnut being omitted; and

Fig. 7 is an exploded view of one of the index hands which cooperatewith the setting circles, and the means for clamping it in set position.

Referring to the drawings, my mounting comprises a solid wood cylinder1, which maybe about 8" long and 2" in diameter, and which forms ahousing for a metal rod 2, which is rotatable therein. This forms thepolar axis shaft of the mounting.

At one end of the housing 1, is aflat wood disc 3, say about 5" indiameter, which is secured to the housing by means of screws 4. on itsouter surface is glued a heavy card 5, which is graduated in degrees, asbest shown in Fig. 5, but marked in hours: from zero to 24. Each hour,therefore, extends through an angle of 15 degrees which is sub-dividedinto three principal parts of 5 degrees each, and each of these parts isdivided into 5 equal parts representing intervals of 4 minutes of time.This card is the right ascension setting circle of the mounting, but,instead of using a card, either a disc of Celluloid or brass may beused, or the wood disc itself may be graduated.

About midway between the ends of the housing 1, a metal band 6 issecured thereto by a screw 7. Nuts 8 and 9 are welded to the oppositesides of the band 6 and are designed to receive the studs 10 and 11,respectively, forming trunnions on which the housing 1 is supported inthe U-shaped bracket 12.

The bracket 12 has a depending bolt 13, which may be welded thereto andwhich is rotatably mounted in the tripod head 14 but which may beclamped in fixed position by means of the wing nut 15 (see Fig. 3).

At the other end of the housing 1, the rod 2 is welded ice to aband 16(see Fig. 2) through which passes the wood housing 17 for thedeclination axis shaft 18; the housing 17 being secured in the band 16by means of the screw 19. This housing, like the housing 1, has a wooddisc 20 secured thereto at one end by screws 21. Glued or otherwisesecured to the outer side of the disc is a card 22 which is graduated indegrees from zero to 180 in each direction; the line indicating the zerograduation being co-planar with the axis of rod 2. Welded to one end ofthe shaft 18, as best shown at 23 in Fig. 2, is bar 24 having weldedthereto at each end an adjustable clamp 25 adapted to secure atelescope, such as shown in dotted outline at 26 in Figs. 1, 2 and 6, inthe mounting. The declination axis shaft 18 extends somewhat beyond thedisc 20 and is there threaded. It also has a keyway 27 therein.Slidably, but non-rotatably, mounted on the axis 18 is an index hand 28which cooperates with the declination setting circle 22. In order toclamp the declination axis shaft 18 in set posi- 'tion, I have providedthe wing nut 29. Beyond the setting nut 29 is a weight 30 which may beslidable on the shaft 18 and secured in position to counterbalance theweight of the telescope by means of the nuts 31 and 32.

Like the shaft 18, the shaft 2 extends through the disc and isthreadedand provided with a keyway 27 like the keyway in the shaft 18. An indexhand 33 like the index hand 28 has a projection thereon which seats inthe keyway and is thus made slidable but not rotatable on the shaft 2.In order to clamp the index hand in set position a wing nut 34 similarto the wing nut 21 is provided.

In use, this telescope is set up on the tripod and the head of thetripod is leveled by means of a carpenters level or the like. Thetelescope is then pointed at the North Star and secured in that positionby the clamping nut 15 and also by means of the nut 35 on the trunnions.The telescope and the polar axis of the mounting are then parallel tothe axis of the earth. If the index 33 on the right ascension circle isthen set at Zero, the telescope may be turned around the declinationaxis and its field of view will move through all declinations which areon the same hour circle. Also, by clamping the declination axis shaft inone position in housing 17 and turning it about the polar axis, thetelescope will pass all hour circles where they intersect the samedeclination circle. Thus the telescope can be pointed at theintersection of any declination circle and hour circle in space.

For example, assuming that the observer is inBuiialo, New York onDecember 25 and wishes to locate the giant red star Betelg'eux at .8oclock that evening: From tables which are available the starsdeclination will appear as -7.5 north and hence its distance from theNorth Pole is minus 7.5 or 825. The index hand cooperating with thedeclination circle is then set between 82 and 83 and clamped in thatposition.

The index on the right ascension circle is next set. Since it is 279days since March 21 (the vernal equinox), the earth has moved 18 hoursand 20 minutes in its orbit around the sun. In order to obtain the sunsright ascension the observer must take into account the fact that, inreference to the sun, any star appears to move into the same position alittle earlier every night. Astronomers have measured this time intervaland found it to be 3.943 minutes per day (of 24 solar hours). Hence, thesuns right ascension at the assumed time of observation is changes byone hour, a correction for Buffalo must be made to the suns rightascension. For Buffalo this is =18 hours, 20 minutes minus 15 minutes.Subtracting 15 minutes from 8 oclock will give the local time at theBuffalo meridian of 7 hours and 45 minutes. Adding this to the sunsright ascension we obtain a total of 26 hours and 5 minutes. From tableswhich are available, the right ascension of Betelgeux may be noted as 5hours and 53 minutes, which subtracted from 26 hours and 5 minutesresults in 20 hours and 12 minutes. If the indicator on the rightascension circle is set at 20 hours and 12 minutes, at 8 oclock standardtime in Buffalo on December 25, Betelgeux should be in the telescopesfield of vision.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the manner in which thedeclination setting circle is marked permits expeditious setting of thenorth polar distance, or any desired declination. Furthermore, a devicesuch as described above brings within easy reach of everyone a simple,practical, inexpensive, equatorial mounting for a telescope that will beboth entertaining and instructive.

What I claim is:

l. A telescope mounting comprising a first metal rod forming thedeclination axis shaft thereof and having means at one end for clampinga telescope thereto; a housing for said rod in which it is rotatable; asecond metal rod forming the polar axis shaft of said mounting andhaving means at one end thereof to which the housing for saiddeclination axis shaft is secured; a housing for said second rod inwhich it is rotatable; each of said rods being threaded at the other endthereof, projecting beyond its housing, and having an index handslidably but non-rotatably mounted thereon together with a manuallyoperable clamping nut; a declination setting circle secured to the endof the housing for said declination axis shaft and cooperating with theindex hand on said shaft; and a right ascension setting circle securedto the end of the housing for said polar axis shaft and cooperating withthe index hand on said shaft; the housing for the rod forming said polaraxis shaft being provided intermediate the ends thereof with trunnionshaving their axis normal to said polar axis shaft.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1 in which said housings are ofwood.

3. The structure set forth in claim 1 in which the threaded end of therod forming the declination axis shaft is provided with a weightcooperating therewith and forming an adjustable counterbalance for atelescope when said telescope is secured to the other end of said rod.

4. The structure set forth in claim 1 in which the declination settingcircle is graduated in degrees in both directions from a zero index linecoplanar with the polar axls.

5. A telescope mounting comprising a U-shaped bracket provided at thebottom thereof with a depending threaded rod having a manually operablenut thereon and adapted rotata ly to attach said bracket to a tripodhead; a first metal rod forming the declination axis shaft of saidmounting having adjustable means at one end thereof for clamping atelescope at right angles thereto, and threaded at the other endthereof; a wood housing for said rod; a disc, coaxial with said rod andsecured to said housing adjacent the threaded end of sad rod, formingthe declination setting circle of said mounting; an index hand slidablybut non-rotatably mounted on the threaded end of said rod cooperatingwith said circle, and a manually operable nut for clamping said hand andcircle together; a second rod forming the polar axis shaft of saidmounting; a wood housing therefor; means fixedly securing one end ofsaid housing to the housing for said first rod at right angles thereto;a disc, coaxial with said second rod and secured to the housing thereofadjacent the threaded end of said rod, forming the right ascensionsetting circle for said mounting; an index hand slidably butnon-rotatably mounted on the threaded end of said second rod cooperatingwith said right ascension setting circle, and a manually operable nutfor clamping said hand and circle together; trunnions mounting thehousing for said second rod between the upright portions of saidU-shaped clamp; and manually operable means for clamping said mountingto said bracket.

6. The structure set forth in claim 5 in which said housings are formedof wood.

7. The structure set forth in claim 5 in which the threaded end of therod forming the declination axis shaft is provided with a weightcooperating therewith and forming and adjustable counter-balance for atelescope when said telescope is secured to the other end of said rod.

8. The structure set forth in claim 4 in which said housings are formedof wood and the threaded end of the rod forming the declination axisshaft is provided with a weight cooperating therewith and forming anadjustable counter-balance for a telescope when said telescope issecured to the other end of said rod.

9. The structure set forth in claim 5 in which the declination settingcircle is graduated in degrees in both directions from a zero index linecoplanar with the polar axis.

10. The structure set forth in claim 5 in which the right ascensionsetting circle is divided with twenty four equal parts, indicatinghours, from a zero index line in a plane normal to the axis of saidtrunnions and above the polar axis of said mounting.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS583,518 Stoller June 1, 1897 690,008 Berger Dec. 31, 1901 1,852,166'Kaster Apr. 5, 1932 FOREIGN PATENTS 474,100 Germany Mar. 26, 1929

